30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know (http://invisibleillnessweek.com)
1. The illness I live with is: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) & Fibromyalgia (FM)
2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 2002
3. But I had symptoms since: 2001
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: I can no longer do the things I love - dancing, swimming, running, anything that requires energy
5. Most people assume: It's all in my head
6. The hardest part about mornings are: Never feeling well rested or refreshed
7. My favorite medical TV show is: Gray's Anatomy
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: My laptop. It's my link to the outside world.
9. The hardest part about nights are: Lying awake for hours...not being able to sleep because of the pain.
10. Each day I take __ pills & vitamins: 11 (which is less than most people with CFS/FM)
11. Regarding alternative treatments I: have tried homeopathy, naturopathy, acupuncture, pranic healing, yunani - none of these have worked. I have found that yoga helps if ptacticed regularly.
12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: Visible. At least people would be able to see that I'm not making it all up.
13. Regarding working and career: Had to give up in 2002 because of my illness.
14. People would be surprised to know: I have been exhausted for 7 yrs. And in pain almost all the time. I try not to make a big deal about it, but it is a huge deal to me.
15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: That I (or anyone else) don't understand my illness. I don't know whether a cause or cure will ever be found for it.
16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: get my yoga teaching certificate
17. The commercials about my illness: Have just started. I'm glad people are beginning to recognize fibromyalgia as an illness. Unfortunately still nothing about CFS.
18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: Running. Dancing. Working. Studying. Being self-reliant.
19. It was really hard to have to give up: my life as it was.
20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: Gardening (well, I just started 2 days ago)
21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: go sky diving followed by dancing all night.
22. My illness has taught me: the importance of being healthy.
23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: Snap out of it (well, duh, thanks...that never occurred to me for 7 years). If you can't say anything helpful, pls don't say anything.
24. But I love it when people: people help me in the most unexpected ways.
25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: "This body is perishable, consciousness is of a nature to dissolve, and all objects of clinging are impermanent, suffering and subject to change." The body is only a temporary vehicle. It is my soul that will continue. And my soul is only a part of the Universal consciousness. So why despair for the body?
26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: Learn to listen to your body. Rest before you get tired. Don't compare yourself - not to anyone else and not to yourself before you got ill.
27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: Millions of dollars (& pounds) are being spent on researching CFS, over 1 million Americans suffer from it, yet we are nowhere close to discovering what it is or to finding a cure.
29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: I want people to recognise that an invisible illness can be as debilitating as a visible one.
30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: Happy, that you cared enough to read it.
